1/1/25 NOAH: KENTA vs. Keno 15:24
ML: There's only 3 years difference between their ages. but Keno started almost a decade later, so he's from the next generation of wrestlers. In many ways, he's the successor to KENTA, doing an intense, aggressive junior heavyweight striking style. It's a natural matchup and rivalry where Keno has been striving for KENTA's respect and approval, but with KENTA being in WWE and NJPW much of the last decade, it's actually only their 2nd singles match, with KENTA beating Keno at Keno's 6th Anniversary show on 3/2/14. Keno has a lot less mileage and a lot more left in the tank, but due to Keno's urging and prodding, KENTA did his best to step up here, and gave one of his more useful performances in recent times. These two really laid into one another, as you'd expect, with some of the most brutal slaps you'll ever see. It felt a lot more like a fight than the usual cooperative exchanges between stalling we normally get today. KENTA begrudgingly shook hands with Keno before the match, but Keno refused to give him a clean break on the ropes despite Kenta requesting it twice. Keno hurt his ankle missing a diving foot stomp to the floor, and took a powerslam on the outside for his trouble. KENTA didn't do a lot of ankle work, but he was able to stay on the ascendancy much of the fight by getting on a roll here with his own offense, and keeping Keno largely in the role of struggling to play even. Since KENTA was switching from New Japan back to NOAH, theoretically at the urging of Keno, it made some sense for him to win, but the match was wrestled as a match where Keno was finally going to turn the tables, and that just never happened. This was a good length for what they were doing, and they were able to maintain their passion and fire while keeping it consistently hard-hitting, without some of the most brutal slaps you'll find, without things just becoming redundant. The ending was definitely a letdown though. This didn't necessarily need 5 more minutes for Keno to get over the hump, but he needed to get going at some point, as he kind of looked bad by ultimately doing this little. ***1/4

3/29/25 UFC: Brandon Moreno vs. Steve Erceg 5R

4/11/93 AJW: Sakie Hasegawa vs. Hikari Fukuoka (JWP) 18:05
PA: Another hot opening match involving these two. Hasegawa was much improved here compared to the Yokohama show since she was willing to work with Fukuoka. The match was long, and given all the pointless matwork in the first half, it could have stood to have been a few minutes shorter. Once they got into the second half, it was a fiery back and forth battle with the two throwing everything they had at each other, and similar to the quality of the 4/2 tag match. They did a great job with the near falls, kicking out of them late, albeit a little too late in once instance. It would have been nice if Sakie knew a few more moves, with three Rolling Savate Kicks and three Exploders, before putting Hikari away with a fourth Rolling Savate Kick. They had a rematch on 5/30 in JWP, which Sakie won as well, surprisingly. It wasn’t a good match though, nowhere near the level of this one. ***1/2

4/11/93 AJW: Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs. Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW) 17:53
PA: A much better performance from Combat and Kudo here than in the first DREAM SLAM main event. They had good opponents in Mita and Shimoda, who were hungry and out to make a name for themselves. They did a much better job of leading things with a match length (10 minutes shorter) that was more suited to them. Combat was still the lesser of the four in the match, but significantly better here than the dismal performance she gave was against Toyota and Yamada. Her offense was way better, and she worked well with her opponents. The dynamic between the teams worked really well. Mita and Shimoda brought a lot of intensity, while the more experienced Combat and Kudo would shut them down and look to dictate a slower pace. Shimoda and Mita got some bursts and double teams, but they’d get overwhelmed by Combat’s power and Kudo’s experience. Around 12 minutes in Mita and Shimoda got their big comeback, and looked to put Combat away with double team moves in the ring. The FMW team came back and destroyed LCO outside, with Combat powerbombing Shimoda on the floor, and Kudo giving a Mita a tiger driver on the announce table. The finishing run was great with LCO trying to fight back from there. Kudo and Combat hit a brutal looking doomsday device, and Mita managed to save the match. They even got into a position to try double teaming Kudo, but she thwarted that, and once Combat got rid of Mita, Shimoda fell victim to a powerbomb/inverted DDT double team, and then Combat folded her up in a powerbomb to win. ***1/2

4/11/93 AJW: Kyoko Inoue, Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs. Cuty Suzuki, Plum Mariko & Bolshoi Kid (JWP) 21:28
PA: A quality, fun, action packed match. Kyoko was the standout here, more because of her exuberance than her work itself, though her work was the best. She did the comedy sequence with Bolshoi at the start, and it was a lot of fun. Takako was good, taking her pleasure in torturing Cuty, though she was best with Plum here. Hotta was just there to be Hotta. She didn’t much other than punt the clown and everyone else. Her big spots at the end moved the finish along well enough. The smaller JWP team had their moments, but more as a collective, they needed to use their teamwork, double and triple teaming their opponents. There was a lot of Bolshoi, and Plum and Cuty spent a lot of time helping her out or getting bumped around by Hotta. Plum looked great when she was trying to tear up Takako’s knee. Kyoko aimed for the 40-revolution Giant Swing, this time on Bolshoi, but she came up short again (this time in the low 30s). They did a big train of dives at around the 10-minute mark, with Hotta even doing a tope. Kyoko took the footstomp train towards the end, playing off the DREAM SLAM spot, but this time she survived it easier. In the end, Bolshoi was way out of her league and found herself outmatched, getting destroyed with Kyoko securing the victory after a great Helicopter Slam. ****

4/11/93 AJW: Suzuka Minami vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) 13:31
PA: These two wrestlers were arguably the most underrated on the scene at this point. The Zenjo crowd never really embraced Harley, and Minami was relatively low on the totem pole, thus they saw it as only a midcard battle, and following the six-woman tag may not have helped them. Regardless, they delivered an excellent, hard-fought match, and both looked great. They executed and sold well throughout. They kept things moving along, staying busy in the slower portion, and built it nicely into the big spots and a good finish. They both stuck to what they do best, Minami working the back and hitting her brutal backbreakers, Harley hitting her suplexes and firing off her kicks. The finish saw Harley hit her Tiger Suplex and get a near fall, but she missed a diving headbutt. Minami hit back with a powerbomb and hit her diving senton to get the three count. ****

4/11/93 AJW: Memorial Superfight: Chigusa Nagayo vs. Bull Nakano 15:08
PA: They got off to a great start, exchanging blows, a missed tope from Chigusa and a quality beating outside from Bull. Then the bulk of the match was largely long stretching and submission segments from Bull. Chigusa made some comebacks in between, she did a fighting spirit spot and both exchanged a sharpshooter. Chigusa’s selling and reactions were better here than was against Devil, especially in the latter portion, but she was still underwhelming. She blew a few things, and Bull either covered her or went along. Bull gave a really solid performance, but a pretty stoic one, so it wasn’t as fun as Devil’s. Chigusa demanded that Bull perform her guillotine legdrop to prove she was tough enough to endure it, and it would have been a classic if that had ended the match. Chigusa executed a couple of suplexes afterward, and disarmed Bull of her nunchakus by kicking them out of her hand. However, Bull hit a German Suplex, and finished with a powerbomb and a second Guillotine Legdrop. ***

4/11/93 AJW: Aja Kong & Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori & Eagle Sawai (LLPW) 20:43
PA: All the tension and hatred was on display here with Hokuto and Kandori from the start. Even before the bell rang, they were ready to spill blood, but Aja and Eagle held them back. Kandori upset Aja during this as well. When Hokuto and Kandori clashed, Hokuto relied on her speed and tried to apply submissions, which included an early insulting one, using Kandori’s spinning sleeper on her. She’d still get caught though, and within about 5 minutes, her cut was reopened. Aja made a difference, intervening to save Hokuto, and when the time came, she wanted to show up Kandori as well. There was a moment where she applied a crab hold on Eagle and defiantly shrugged off all of Kandori’s attempts to break it. Aja's performance was notably improved here compared to the first DREAM SLAM. Not everything worked, a headbutt contest with Kandori was a bit lame, and her flubbed tope that Kandori avoided didn’t quite go to plan, but she was able to come across as near-invincible and cocky while making her opponents look good, rather than cartoonishly invulnerable. Eagle didn’t really have a role beyond being Kandori’s underling and doing a few ‘fat guy spots’ with Aja at the start. She wasn’t bad, but having someone who could’ve bumped around or sold more, like Harley, would have been a better contribution. There were plenty of highlights late in the match. Hokuto took a spike powerbomb on the floor, which saw Aja have to survive a couple of minutes alone. Hokuto stormed back into action with a missile dropkick on Kandori when she was about to apply a sleeper hold to Aja. Kandori continued looking to press Hokuto, but Aja, again, made the difference blindsiding her with a uraken. Aja also took down Eagle with strikes, a powerslam from the top, and superplexed Hokuto onto her. Eagle fired back with her own, and Kandori followed up with two more, with Aja making a dramatic save. Kandori hit a Tiger Driver and Hokuto kicked out. Kandori geared up for a lariat and got caught in a wakigatame, Kandori made the ropes, and then reversed it. Aja managed to save Hokuto twice before Eagle restrained her outside the ring. Kandori turned Hokuto’s Dragon Suplex into another wakigatame, and this time she couldn’t be saved. Hokuto refused the submit, but the referee pulled Kandori off and called off the match. Kandori added further insult by not even paying attention to Hoktuo while she was injuring her arm, focusing all of her attention on Aja. An excellent match and postscript to Yokohama. Kandori got some revenge and Hokuto once again had something to prove. The match did the most effective job of building Aja vs. Kandori though, and a lot of the heat shifted in that direction in the second half, and into the post-match, but it never happened (I’d assume the Mastunaga’s wanted it for Budokan in August or one of the other big shows, but they couldn’t convince LLPW to get Kandori to job twice). ***3/4

4/11/93 AJW: 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki (JWP) 0:12, 14:55, 16:04
PA: The second match in the famous trilogy, and the crowd were quite supporting of the JWP underdogs from the start. The start of this was legendary. Ozaki shared a tense stare with Toyota, clearly remembering their previous encounter. Those two went at it, but Kansai wasted no time and delivered a devastating kick to Yamada’s head, followed swiftly by Splash Mountain, securing the first fall in just 12 seconds. The crowd lost their minds, It was the last thing they expected, and all Toyota could do was scream about it. Yamada’s selling helped too, normally a quick fall like this would see the recipient pop up as if it was lucky she had been caught, but Yamada sold it like the knock-out blow that it was. If the crowd weren’t already on team JWP, they sure were now. In fact, it wasn’t long before the Zenjo team were booed. Yamada quickly tagged out to Toyota, who came in spamming her dropkicks, and after missing a moonsault, Yamada interfered to keep the advantage and the crowd turned on them for the time being. Toyota didn’t add anything good, and she had the same ridiculous costume from the first DREAM SLAM, dropping feathers left and right (thankfully it would never be seen again). She gave Yamada enough of a rest to recover properly though. Kansai had delivered a camel clutch punt to Toyota earlier, so they got revenge for it on Ozaki. Kansai and Yamada had another great exchange, similar to what they had done at Dream Rush. Yamada’s kicks were ferocious, and she upped her intensity to match Kansai, but was also able to use her agility, which was the one advantage she had over her. Later, when Yamada was working a stretch muffler on Ozaki, Kansai ran in and got some revenge by punting Yamada a few times to break it. The fall kicked up a gear after Ozaki avoided a corner lariat from Toyota with Kansai charging in with her own. Ozaki backdrop suplexed Yamada, leading to dives on the outside. Ozaki and Kansai attempted to finish off Toyota with a double flying headbutt. They followed that with an incredible sequence where Ozaki was perched on the top turnbuckle and Toyota dropkicked her down, immediately following with a quebrada while Yamada returned to blindside Kansai with a kick. They should have just gone home there because the rest of fall couldn’t live up to this, even if it was still good enough to keep you guessing. Toyota and Yamada tried to dump Ozaki with a double-team sidebuster, but Ozaki didn't go around all the way, and ended up on her head. Kansai intervened to help her hit a German suplex on Toyota. From there it was a back and forth to the finish. There was a good Splash Mountain tease when Kansai ducked a Toyota’s charge and Ozaki held her back, but Yamada fought out of the attempt to hit a German Suplex. Toyota returned to tag in and assist Yamada with a double powerbomb on Kansai for a near fall (no idea what even happened to Ozaki as the camera never showed her again, I assume Toyota knocked her off the apron but they never showed it), then Toyota finished the fall with her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. The third fall started great with Toyota looking for a quick finish with a German Suplex on Kansai before she regained her bearings. That didn’t work, so Yamada came in with a bunch of kicks and an elbow smash with Ozaki interrupting the pin. Yamada worked over Kansai with a stretch muffler and then Toyota rushed in doing her missile dropkick routine, which didn’t fit what Yamada had set up at all. It was the problem with Toyota throughout though. In the first fall, it was her weird stretching, in the third fall, she just came in doing high spots with no regard for anything that was going on in the match. Thankfully, Ozaki cut her off and gave her a thrashing on the outside, while Kansai got a breather and did the same to Yamada. This was the fall for Kansai and Ozaki to shine, and they did. Kansai asserted her dominance and was the real game-changer. Ozaki was the resilient underdog, clutching onto submissions and hanging on, showing fight and getting big near falls, but also being the most likely one to take the loss. Ozaki received the double backdrop and the straightjacket German suplex from Toyota, the same sequence that spelled her end at Dream Rush, but Kansai frantically broke up it up this time. Yamada held Kansai outside, and she could only watch Ozaki as Toyota tried to finish her off, but Ozaki refused to be denied, kicking out of the Japanese Ocean Suplex. Kansai was able to help afterward, clobbering both Toyota and Yamada, and after a Doomsday Device, and a Doomsday Splash Mountain, Ozaki got the pin to a monster pop. Overall, this was a great match, with an exceptional beginning and an equally impressive ending. It leaned more towards the traditional Zenjo big match format, focusing more on delivering thrilling near falls at the expense of the more clever ideas present in their initial encounter. JWP had taken the WWWA Tag Team belts, and the post-match was an all-time great scene, as Ozaki crawled on her knees to Kansai and fell into a big hug with Cuty, Masami and Plum right there. If the first match put JWP on the map, this match legitimatized them, and with the tag team mountain climbed, their next challenge was for the dominant Kansai, to test herself against Aja Kong. ****3/4

4/18/1993 JWP: Devil Masami vs. Bull Nakano 37:36
PA: A natural match after these two had both defeated Chigusa Nagayo in previous weeks. This was dubbed as a “Super Heavyweight Fight”, and it was a unique, slow-paced struggle. They stretched each other, hit each other hard, took big bumps, milked everything and delivered something no one except for these two could have pulled off. The used plenty of weardown holds and sold them as weardowns. They didn’t oversell, but sold them until they were drained. The facial expressions were great, with Bull looking utter misery, while Devil took pleasure in working her over. Devil sold like crazy too when Bull had the upperhand. They hit the odd spot, but the earliest big run saw Devil execute a brutal powerbomb on Bull outside and footstomp off the apron. Bull took further punishment from the powerbomb and a superplex, and when she tried to comeback, Devil hit a German suplex and a missile dropkick. Bull took a breather to regroup, and resorted to her nunchakus, which led to the famous spot this match is known for, where Devil demanded to be hit by them. Bull obliged, and followed with a moonsault, but Devil bridged out of the pin. Bull worked some nasty leg submissions and won a chair battle outside. They hit guillotine legdrops and powerbombs to each other for dramatic near falls amongst topes, planchas, suplexes and lariats in the final third. Devil controlled a lot of it, but Bull outlasted her. Devil tried a final superplex and Bull reversed it, following up with a second guillotine legdrop for a near fall. Devil stirred, but she couldn’t get up, and Bull delivered the somersault version to win. Sure, this match could have lost 10 minutes quite easily, but it was 37-minute match that flew by because it was paced out so well, always kept escalating and rarely dragged. ****1/2

4/24/1993 AJW: Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs. Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta 17:41 of 18:35
PA: Aja did a great job of guiding the match, with the spotlight squarely on Toyota as the hometown hero. Aja spent most of the match punishing Toyota, setting up her comebacks, which the crowd popped huge for. Kyoko was mainly there to take Toyota’s real comebacks, and do athletic spots with her. Built well into a good finishing sequence, which saw a good run of near falls with Toyota winning with the Japanese Ocean Suplex. ****

5/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Etsuko Mita vs. Harley Saito 19:38
PA: There were two outsiders in the Japan Grand Prix. Hikari Fukuoka was representing JWP, and had a pretty lousy match with Kaoru Ito where they spent 3/4 of their 24 minutes in crabs and chinlocks. Harley represented LLPW, and had a much better match here with Mita. Mita was fun with the heeling, and Harley’s armwork was good. Later, they worked the legs, and worked it well enough that a long figure four spot drew people into the reversals. They went all out with lots of near falls at the end. Harley won with a Tiger Suplex, so Mita slapped her afterward. ***1/2

5/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Akira Hokuto vs. Toshiyo Yamada 17:55
PA: Yamada targeted Hokuto’s injured shoulder, zeroing in on it with kicks and holds. Hokuto had to get it retaped and gutted through. Yamada had the best of it early, but Hokuto came back, and worked her over in response. They fought over their holds and struggled, and the faster paced transitions were intense and well done. This was a smaller house show, so they didn’t do as much as they would on a big show, but it didn’t feel that way since most of the bumps they took were meaningful. They worked a hot finish where they slipped out of each other finishers before Hokuto finally hit the Northern Light’s Bomb. After the match, she gave Yamada a slap and earned a lariat for it. ***3/4

5/5/93 FMW: Megumi Kudo & Combat Toyoda vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota 22:17
PA: FMW needing to get their win back gave these two teams a chance to have the match they were capable of. They got things going with a hot brawl outside, and then the FMW team controlled the early portion again, but this time it flowed and built well, they didn’t get bogged down sitting around in holds forever. Yamada and Toyota weren’t so blunted, and were able to stand out more with their hot comebacks with better timing. The final portion was just about as good as they di’d in April. Kudo took a ton of big moves from Toyota at the end and survived or was saved. Combat turned the tide for her, and they did a brutal Doomsday Device, which should have been the finish as the sloppy powerbomb and a Tiger Suplex that followed weren’t so impressive. This might have been a bit sloppier than their first match, but it was such a major improvement in all other regards that it’s hard to be critical of that. Combat and Kudo were significantly better, and none of the issues that plagued that match were present here. ****1/4

5/8/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Suzuka Minami vs. Etsuko Mita 19:38
PA: These two had a good match on the 4/24 TV show which was clipped to 10 minutes. Minami won that won with a diving senton. Mita didn’t fall victim to it this time, and got a win back here in the JGP with her Death Valley Bomb. The wrestling was solid, nothing spectacular, but it was an interesting and well worked veteran vs. junior type of match. Minami dominated Mita for most of it, working the leg early, which wasn’t anything special, but Mita sold really well for her. Mita would try to cheat but get shut down there, but it ended up being the high risk moves that cost her. ***1/2

5/8/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Takako Inoue vs. Harley Saito 30:00
PA: A great, dramatic match, and one of the best matches either ever had. The first 10 minutes were there, but it was an injury to Harley where it really kicked off. Takako did a double arm-suplex from the top which seemed to legitimately injure Harley’s rib. After an armdrag, she looked to be in horrible pain, and bailed out to get some attention. They put a brace put on her, and she continued on with Takako ruthlessly going after her. The injury made it that even a body scissors had drama. Later, she dragged her outside to beat on her with chair. When Harley tried to return to the ring, Takako stomped her ribs and stood on her fingers. Harley made a really hot comeback even if the crowd were all about Takako. She hit a leg lariat and a German suplex, then did some damage to Takako’s arm with a wakigatame. Takako sold the arm enough that both were wounded going into their final portion. Harley kicked the hell out of her and had the momentum, Takako stalled her with a backdrop suplex, but Harley reversed the Aurora Special, and hit a springboard dive and suplex on the outside. Takako came back in the ring with a German Suplex and her Aurora Special. The last few minutes were incredible, dramatic and frantic with the crowd eating up every near fall. Takako went to the top and got superplexed down, with Harley following up with a flying headbutt and a Tiger Suplex. Takako hit back with a German suplex and put Harley on the top turnbuckle, hitting her chokeslam. Harley refused to be beaten, and Takako got more urgent, quickly trying to put her away with a backdrop suplex, but her frustration led to Harley hitting a bunch of suplexes but the time expired on them. This was a crazy performance from Harley as everything she did had to have really hurt like hell. Had there not been an injury this might not have been special. The way Takako took it to Harley put it another level, and made her comebacks all the more impressive. ****1/2

5/8/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota 21:51
PA: Yamada and Hokuto gave Toyota some good abuse, with Yamada throwing her kicks and plenty of nasty stretching from the pair. Hotta and Yamada kicked the crap out of each other, and had the best exchanges. Yamada did most of the work for her team, and was standout in the match, while Hokuto took more a backseat. Toyota didn’t have a bad day on spots despite blowing her first high spot of the match. She was particularly excellent in the last few minutes when she rolled out her spots in style. It ended up being a bit of a route, as Hokuto was incapacitated, and Yamada was easily finished off with a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex from Toyota. Hokuto did an angle with Rumi Kazama and LLPW after the match. ***3/4

5/11/93 LLPW: Miki Handa vs. Mima Shimoda 13:03 of 19:22
PA: Good, action packed interpromotional match. It had plenty of heat and both were urgent and hungry. They both seemed to be trying to prove they were better than they were being featured at. They had the intensity, they were pulling hair, biting their legs, brawling and dumping each other with suplexes. It got better and more heated as it went along, though it was brought down a little with some sloppiness and miscommunication. ***1/2

5/11/93 LLPW: Suzuka Minami & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Rumi Kazama & Yukari Osawa 17:36 of 21:15
PA: If this match was going to be even decent, you’d have thought it would have required Minami to carry it and do more most the work, but no, she was good, but this was BATOMANIA! Bat turned into the karate Aja Kong for a day. She was the wrecking ball. Sshe showed more charisma than anyone knew she had, and delivered the most incredible performance of her career with the entire crowd chanting her name because she was such a badass. Minami worked a solid match, cracking backs and working the more athletic sequences, setting things up for Bat, who’d come and deliver her kicks, and tank as much abuse as she could when she was on the receiving end. It helped that Kazama had a good day as well, performing above her usual level. This time her kicking battle with Kazama was actually good where it hadn’t gone anywhere on 4/11. Osawa wasn’t great, but she was adequate enough. Bat threw all kinds of kicks to Osawa and put her in a crab, which Kazama came in to break up with her kicks, but Bat just looked at her with disdain and refused to break the hold, which had the crowd chanting for her. The next time she was in, she did the same when Osawa tried to break it up, although this time Bat broke the hold so she could kick back. The moment that made the whole match was when Osawa had a crab on Minami, and Bat sauntered in and broke it with one kick. The match built into the more typical joshi big finish. The LLPW team got on a roll and seemed to have things in the bag, but Bat was the gamechanger there as well, hitting her big rolling kicks to Kazama, and taking out Osawa with one, while Minami finished off Kazama powerbombs and her diving senton. Hokuto was in the crowd for this and started more shit with LLPW afterwards. They were building the 6/15 interpromotional card from Ota Ward Gymnasium, though Hokuto refused to wrestle on it herself. The matches we would get were Eagle Sawai & Leo Kitamura vs. Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue and Shinobu Kandori, Rumi Kazama & Miki Handa vs. Suzuka Minami, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. The latter was the better of the two as you’d expect, but they chopped it up with almost half of it missing on the comm tape. ****1/4

5/30/93 JWP: Devil Masami, Mayumi Ozaki & Plum Mariko vs. Dynamite Kansai, Cuty Suzuki & Candy Okutsu 27:41
PA: This was about 20 minutes of excellent stuff, plenty of good action and Ozaki wearing a hot pink outfit for something different. Some funny spots and good heat segment on Candy, with Plum getting the revenge spots later. Devil and Ozaki were the best here, with some good stuff from Kansai. It’s JWP though, so we had to have too much of a good thing, and after 20 minutes it started dragging. It was nice that Plum actually got to win with a submission for a change, submitting Candy with an STF, though it would have been better if they’d give her wins with her kneebar every now and then since it looks so much more devastating and was a more over move. ***1/2

6/3/93 AJW Japan Grand Prix '93 Red Zone: Toshiyo Yamada vs. Suzuka Minami 17:58
PA: This was the second match on the card, as they omitted Etsuko Mita vs. Mima Shimoda, which went on first. This was a pretty solid match most of the way, they worked over each other legs, with Minami getting the worst of it, but she came back by roughing Yamada up outside, and worked her back over inside. Somewhat mundane, but solid and well-executed. It got really good in the last third. Yamada won with her Reverse Gory Bomb, and also managed to extract one of Minami’s teeth. ***1/4

6/3/93 AJW: Akira Hokuto & Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong & Bull Nakano 16:20
PA: Bull and Kyoko worked the majority of this and were really good, even if not giving their maximum effort. Kyoko was on the receiving end of it for the first six minutes, getting worked over by Bull with Aja following up. She got her offense in on Bull later on. Hokuto made a minimal contribution, but she was good when she was in. She could go with Aja, and got the best of Bull, which had Bull using the nunchakus, prompting Hokuto to take revenge with her bokken later. Outside of that, she assisted Kyoko from the outside, turning the table so she could hit her offense on Bull, but Aja also assisted Bull. The monsters showed better teamwork though, and that’s what ended up getting them the win. ***1/2

6/3/93 AJW 2/3 Falls, WWWA World Tag Title Match: Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue 60:00 (16:56, 18:11, 24:13)
PA: Team JWP’s first defense of the tag belts, and a rematch on the 1/15 classic. This was paced out for 60 minutes so it was slow with lots of holds, but it built up well and there was plenty of attitude on display, which kept it entertaining. Takako and Ozaki played the little sister roles, getting worked over. Hotta and Kansai dominated and punted them around while those two would pick up the bones. Ozaki ended up getting the worst of it in the first fall, and despite them not doing a lot, it was interesting watching everyone trying to one-up each other. Kansai rushed in when she couldn’t stand it anymore, taking matters into her own hands and escalated things. She proved April was no fluke, pinning Hotta with a Splash Mountain. The second fall saw Hotta and Kansai take a turn getting worked over before Takako found herself in Ozaki’s role in the first fall. Kansai got the best of Takako. They did an interesting spot where Hotta ran in and kicked her in the face to save Takako, but Kansai held onto her and recovered to regain control. Takako got worked over, usually by Kansai with Ozaki mugging her on the outside and stomping on her hand. Hotta was able to thwart a double team from the apron to get the tag in and cleaned house, punting Kansai and hitting a Tiger Driver, which didn’t finish, but after miscommunication from Ozaki and Takako successfully assisting with a double team, she put her away with a Pyramid Driver. Takako’s ribs were injured so she got them braced up between the second and third fall. Ozaki removed the brace and used it as a weapon against Takako, followed by Kansai unleashing her kicks. Takako came back on Ozaki and hot tagged Hotta, who kicked Ozaki around in response, but Hotta potatoed her with a head shot and legitimately concussed her. Kansai had to come in to improvise while Ozaki tried to remember where she was (this was the beginning of Hotta run of concussing the JWP girls, where she concussed Ozaki, Hikari and Plum over the course of June and July). Kansai did a great job of frantically trying to protect Ozaki, while Ozaki continued trying to fight. Hotta kept kicking her down and Ozaki would fire back. The match was off the rails and the roles essentially reversed out of necessity, but what was working for it was that it was so dramatic. A concussed Ozaki seems to bring about great performances (she gave an all time great performance at Dream Rush after being concussed within the first minute of the match as well). She struggled through a crowd brawl with Takako, while Hotta and Kansai went at it. In the ring, it wasn’t pretty. Ozaki couldn’t do everything, she did her spots as well as you could expect, but it was sloppy and everyone could see she had nothing left but was refusing to die. By the end, Kansai and Ozaki were looking to put Takako away, but were unable to do it and the time ran out. This wasn’t a classic, but it was consistently good throughout with a great twist and drama in the final fall. ****